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Sunday, September 27, 2009

“Democrats have spent the past 40 years protecting America’s seniors,” protested Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, as his staff peppered reporters with examples of past Republican votes that Democrats said hurt the elderly. “The other side’s insistence on spreading fear above all else is what will truly hurt our seniors.”

Republican leaders, who for decades have called for scaling back the government-run Medicare health insurance program for the elderly and just this spring proposed eventually ending it, now are arguing that Democrats’ proposed prescriptions for remaking the costly and inefficient U.S. health care system would lead to benefit cuts for the elderly.

An Associated Press-GfK poll conducted this month showed that while the public in general was opposed to Democrats’ health care proposals, seniors were almost twice as likely to be concerned. Opponents of Democrats’ plans outnumbered supporters 49 percent to 34 percent. Among seniors, 59 percent were opposed compared with 31 percent in support

More men than women lack health insurance in America. The breakdown of the uninsured population, to be exact, is 46 percent men, 38 percent women, and 16 percent children (those under 18),

But by many other measures, women face steeper healthcare challenges than men. Women interact with the healthcare system more often, because of female-specific health needs, and so are more vulnerable to a system with soaring costs and with restrictions that hurt women specifically.

women age 25 are typically charged between 6 and 45 percent more than men of that age for identical coverage

Many insurance policies exclude coverage for maternity care or require a separate rider for coverage.

Many insurance companies consider having had a Caesarean section a preexisting condition.

Now it's the Lake County Board's turn….This Wednesday, the board's finance committee will take up the issue.

Kildeer, Buffalo Grove and Mettawa are among the towns that have enacted bans. So has the DuPage County Board.

program has supporters, too. Chief among them is Corky Anderson, a Beach Park bar owner and president of the Lake County Tavern Owners Association who believes local bars could lose customers to other communities if a ban is enacted.

supplemental budget process after a late 1990s budget crisis forced the county board to drastically slash spending and lay off some workers.

Under the process, county departments receive in each annual budget the same amount of spending they received the prior year, plus funding for "natural" growth like employee wage hikes and increases in vendor costs and service contracts.

Beyond that, any new funding must be submitted to the board through a supplemental request.

But the funding available for supplementals has been falling steadily in recent years - from about $3.1 million in 2007 to about $500,000 this year. It could be gone entirely in 2010.